Emergency and development of the instant messaging technology bring convenience for communication between people. At present, an instant messaging application may not only transmit text information in real time but also transmit a picture or an animation file, for example, a static or dynamic expression, and what a user tries to express may be simply transmitted through the static or dynamic expression. For example, if a first user transmits an expression picture of laughing to a second user, the second user may know that the first user is in good mood; and on the contrary, if the first user transmits an expression picture of crying to the second user, the second user may know that the first user is in bad mood.
However, because of complexity of emotions of people, a single expression picture or expression animation may be applicable to a limited number of scenarios when transmitting information, an amount of the information which may be transmitted is very limited, there are limitations in terms of information transmission, information transmission efficiency is not high, and thus improvement is required.